The Last of Us Part 2 Production Started Right After Prequel, E3 Footage Won’t Be Downgraded

The Last of Us Part 2 was revealed at E3 2018 with a proper gameplay footage this time. The long anticipated game has been in pre-production phase since development on the original ended however it was initially just a small team, as revealed by The Last of Us’s lead level designer, Emilia Schatz in an interview with JeuxActu.

According to Emilia Schatz, the production on The Last of Us sequel started once they were done with the work on the original game. However, Uncharted 4 was also in active development so the small team that was working on The Last of Us sequel was taken back to Uncharted 4. This repeated again with The Lost Legacy but once they were done with it, all hands were on deck for The Last of Us Part 2. Schatz joined Naughty Dog in 2010 and has worked on Uncharted 3, The Last of Us, Uncharted 4 and now The Last of Us Part 2.

Regarding Ellie as the only playable character, Schatz said that it might change in the future but they are not ready to share anything about it yet. She also talked about the E3 demo and assured that it won’t be downgraded in any way. The footage that was seen at E3 2018 was running in real-time on the PS4 Pro and Naughty Dog will keep the visual fidelity of the game intact without any cutbacks to them.

The Last of Us Part 2 is being directed by Neil Druckmann. He was the creative director of the original The Last of Us. Bruce Straley, who was the co-director, has left Naughty Dog for a while now so it should be interesting to see which direction Neil Druckmann decides to take for the sequel.

The Last of Us Part 2 is currently in development and will be released exclusively for the PS4.